Cane attack leads to arrest

The sidewalk outside Good Guys (2311 Wisconsin Ave.) was the site of a peculiar hate crime on September 23, according to a police report. At 9 p.m., a 32-year-old African-American man was walking north on the sidewalk with a woman, the report states. As they passed Sonja Williams, 40—also African-American—Williams said, “I’m going to f—k a black person up tonight.”

The man made eye contact with Williams, who asked him, “What are you looking at?”

“Go about your business,” he replied.

Williams then threatened to hit him on the head.

“You don’t want to do that,” the man said.

At this point, Williams swung her cane at him and missed, then swung a second time and hit him on the forearm, the report states. He grabbed the cane from her and called police, who arrested Williams. She pled not-guilty to two charges: bias-related assault and bias-related possession of a prohibited weapon (the cane). A status hearing in the case was scheduled for November 4.